The Harlem Renaissance

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The Harlem Renaissance

• Fine Artists

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OVERVIEW

• Social thought that was expressed through the
  visual arts, music, literature, theater, dance.
• Centered in the Harlem district of New York City,
  the New Negro Movement (as it was called at the
  time) had a profound influence across the United
  States and even around the world.
• African-Americans were encouraged to celebrate
  their heritage and to become "The New Negro."
  Alain LeRoy Locke

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The New Negro Movement was formed to use art,
philosophy, and literature as tools to destroy
wrongful stereotypes.

• Four main themes
• Using African heritage as a source of pride
• Honoring African-American Heroes
• Encouraging racial and political change
• Recognizing African American traditions

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The Great Migration

• After World War I, manufacturing industries had
  grown to support the war effort.
• Many African Americans went north and found work
  in factories in cities like N.Y., Pittsburg, or
  Detroit.
• This mass movement was called the Great Migration

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Jockey Club, by Archibald Motley
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Art of the Harlem Renaissance

• Not characteristically abstract
• Reinforces the tradition of storytelling in
  African-American culture.
• Tells a story about the lives and the history of
  African Americans
• Family life and urban scenes are motifs that
  appear frequently

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William Johnson 1901-1970

• Came to New York in 1918 from Florence, South
  Carolina.
• Traveled to North Africa and Europe in search of
  a permanent residence.
• Settled, painted, and studied the works of modern
  European masters in Paris.

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Gagnes(1928)
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Mountain Stream (1930)
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Portrait of Fletcher(1939)
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The Three Abolitionists(1945)
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Lois Mailou Jones 1905- 1998

• Attended the School of the Museum of Fine Art,
  Boston,
• Entered works by having white friends deliver the
  paintings.
• Prizes awarded were given to white competitors.

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Coin de la Rue Medard(1936)
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Haiti Beach 1 (1938)
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Les Fetches 1938
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Romare Bearden 1914 - 1988

• "descendent" of the Harlem Renaissance.
• The majority of his works were created a decades
  after the movement ended.
• Paintings, collages and prints celebrate black
  history, black music (jazz), and black
  lifestyles.
• Known for bright colors, unusual spatial
  compositions, and a jubilant attitude.

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The Block (1971)
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Le Jazz (1966)
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Out Chorus (1979)
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The Family 1975
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Aaron Douglas 1899-1979

• Best exemplifies the 'New Negro' philosophy.
• Painted murals for public buildings and produced
  illustrations and cover designs for many black
  publications.
• In 1940,moved to Nashville where he founded the
  Art Department at Fisk University and taught for
  twenty nine years.

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Creation (1927)
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The Unknown (1924)
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Study for Aspects of Negro Life The Negro in an
African Setting(1934)
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Aspiration 1936
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Archibald Motley 1891-1981

• From Chicago. First solo exhibit in 1928 in New
  York.
• Won the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1929.
• Painted scenes of nightlife and gambling in
  response to Prohibition.
• Member of Ashcan school that did not devote
  itself to any ethnicity.

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Mending Socks(1924)
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Barbeque(1937)
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Nightlife (1943)
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James Van der Zee 1886-1983

• From Lenox, Massachusetts.
• Opened a photography studio in Harlem in 1916.
• photographed the famous as well as the ordinary.
• Strove to make his pictures better looking than
  the person.
• Known for funeral pictures.

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Dancing Girls (1938)
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Common Themes and Imagery

• alienation
• marginality of blacks through institutional
  racism
• the use of African folk material
• the blues tradition
• an interest in the roots in Africa and the
  American South
• a strong sense of racial pride and desire for
  social and political equality

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A Lasting Impression

• The Renaissance was more than a literary or
  artistic movement it possessed a certain
  sociological developmentparticularly through a
  new racial consciousnessand an awareness of
  one's identity which provided a unique critique
  of the social ramifications of this racial
  consciousness.